Researching the Use of Coteaching in the Student Teaching Experience

Abstract

Student teaching is one of the most powerful and influential experiences for candidates preparing to become teachers. It provides sustained opportunities for teacher candidates to apply the educational theories they have been studying with the actual practice of teaching. This culminating experience allows candidates to learn and practice multiple techniques of teaching while working in real classrooms with real students, under the supervision of a licensed teacher. While student teaching expectations vary across institutions, almost all traditional teacher preparation programs finish with a student teaching or internship experience. Unfortunately at most institutions, student teaching has remained relatively unchanged for the last 100 years (Guyton and McIntyre 1990). In a traditional student teaching experience, teacher candidates typically spend their initial weeks as silent observers, gradually assuming the multiple roles of a teacher leading up to full responsibility in the classroom. Often, teacher candidates in traditional settings are left alone or at a minimum, unassisted in a classroom as they take on this full responsibility.